Bleeeeh.
Hope you like it. Production is good, though I admit most of the stuff here is prewritten.
Enjoy. Also to my co-writer, tomorrow I might be able to connect to ya after going to Honng Kong. VPN works there thank god.
Enjoy mah brain meat. Review you pirahnas!
"Pfffffffffffffffff!"
In the Rust Bucket, Garou held his lips, supporting himself on the table as he tried to not die from laughter.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Gwen shouted in outrage, the event possibly scarring the young girl for life. Her cheeks were stained with an atomic red, somewhat matching her hair color.
"Kkkkkkkkuku… Ahahahahahahahahaha!" Garou burst into laughter as he fell on the floor; not even his insane will could keep him from laughing at Gwen's predicament.
Kevin also broke down snickering behind Garou, still finding the scene funny even after he told Garou about it.
"It's not your fault, Gwen. You didn't know it was Vulpimancer mating season." Grandpa Max attempted to soothe Gwen's anger.
"Wha… Why didn't you tell me that when I transformed into Wildmutt, Grandpa?!" Gwen screeched furiously with flailing arms.
"Ahahahahaha! Ahahaha, ohhhh, my stomach!" Garou and Kevin laughed at Gwen even further when they heard about the crazy coincidences that kept compiling atop each other. Even Phil was snickering in the background, laughing with his mouth taped at Gwen.
"Stop it! Do you realize how humiliating that was for me?!" Gwen whimpered pleadingly, her mouth twitched into a firm pout.
"Ahahahahahahahahaha! B-But it was so random it's hilarious!" Kevin laughed in response as they continued laughing.
"Ahahahahaha! I-I've never heard of that, not even back home! Ohhhhhh!" Garou laughed even harder.
"The slobber… I-It was all over me when I transformed back. How is that even possible?!" Gwen cried out, her entire body shivering from remembrance.
They laughed for a few more minutes until they finally calmed down from shaming Gwen's dignity.
"...are you boys done yet?" Max asked, sighing at their lack of consideration. However, he couldn't blame them for that.
"Well… yeah, we're done. Sorry about that… couldn't help it." Garou snickered as he slowly picked himself up after laughing up all of his energy.
"Hmph. You'll have to do better than that for me to forgive you guys." Gwen sniffed, crossing her arms with closed eyes.
"We can buy you anything you want. Our treat," Garou suggested.
Gwen opened her eyes at the prospect of their apology. The boys have over a billion in their bank account, more money than they could spend in their lifetimes.
"Hmmmm I could use a new laptop…" Gwen mumbled to herself in a ponderous thinking position. She then nodded in agreement and smiled at the two.
"Alright, fine. But don't think this is enough."
Kevin and Garou flashed a thumbs up at each other in response.
"So, what happened on your side?" Kevin asked Garou on his end.
"See for yourself." Garou grabbed a remote from the table and turned on the TV again.
On the screen, they saw Garou in his armor, perfectly disguised, his height and frame that of a young man's, cutting down monsters with his alien katana he looted from the Megacruiser, defeating the aliens that did manage to get out in the open on the screen before it transitioned to a news anchor describing him.
"[The unidentified individual has aided the U.S. Government in containing the monster outbreak, as shown in the footage on the screen. Here, we can see him bravely jumping into the scene atop of a flying monster as he expertly used it to crash into another one of them below. Here is the interview we have with Lieutenant Steele on the matter.]"
The screen transitioned to another location where the same blonde military man, surrounded by microphones and flashing cameras as they waited for what he had to say.
"[I don't have much to say. He just came out of nowhere and defeated two of the aliens singlehandedly. After my helicopter shot down the other winged monsters, he simply vanished without another word. Whoever this person is, he has my respect.]" Lieutenant Steel explained gruffly, giving a salute to the camera as if he knew Garou was watching. He then departed to reunite with his colleagues, a few of its members collecting some of the aliens' remains in the background.
"Couldn't save all of them. Not in my place to tell them to not kill the rampaging aliens, I could only incapacitate what I could," Garou explained.
"Not your fault, son." Max understood.
"What are we going to do about the ones caught by the feds?" Kevin asked as he pointed at several animalistic aliens being hauled in heavily armored transport vehicles, government-augmented trucks layered in a lot of metal.
"Well…" Max rubbed the back of his head. "It is out of Plumber jurisdiction at this point. They are the S.A.C.T, the government's answer to any extraterrestrial threat, though they are sometimes used to deal with humans if they're problematic enough."
"What does that acronym stand for?" Gwen asked.
"Special Alien Containment Team. Sometimes they're called SECT, Special Extraterrestrial Containment Team. They're not authorized by Intergalactic Law, but I don't think that matters when Earth isn't aware of galactic authority. They take aliens and bring them to Area 51. Any aliens that fall in their hands, the Plumbers cannot do anything about it back in my day," Max answered.
"They seemed to be doing something with the alien's body parts though. Why would they need those?" Gwen pointed out with uncertainty.
"Studying the enemy. The Association back home would do the same with monsters, dead or alive. Although there are rumors that some of them were marketing monsters to the rich for profit." Garou replied with experience.
"Sounds like something the government would do." Kevin remarked from entertainment media.
"Speaking of laws and secret militaries… what should we do about that guy?" Kevin asked, pointing at the tied up Phil.
"He'll be tried at Plumber HQ. From there, whatever sentence he gets is his problem to deal with." Max announced, his narrowed eyes looking upon Phil's with immense disappointment.
Gwen was about to turn the TV off until the news showed a gruesome scene.
It was a family of three, a young girl was being interviewed.
[The monster tiger was… scary. He picked me because… he said young girls are the tastiest… He was about to eat me.]
Gwen gasped.
Kevin's attention to the news was renewed.
[But then he arrived like the wind! Every scary monster, he took them down the moment he arrived! He is like a Ninja, no, Samurai!]
The girl swung as if she was holding an imaginary sword.
[He killed them all, I think. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here.]
Kevin and Gwen turned to Garou.
"...You killed?" Gwen asked.
"...I had no choice." Garou answered. "When I heard that people were being taken somewhere as food, it triggered something I hadn't turned on in a long time."
The cameraman and reporter headed towards the scene inside a ruined mall.
Then they saw the bodies.
Kevin felt sick at the sight of the mutilation, alien corpses dismembered like meat, chopped apart, a level of gore that their young minds had never seen.
"...This is how we do it back home," Garou answered without needing to hear their response to the massacre.
"...Son," Max didn't know where to start lecturing the man inside his grandson.
"...Garou? What… why!?" Gwen exclaimed.
"They were going to eat her." Garou answered with a sternness she never heard him use.
"I barely got there in time. The only reason I managed to save them is because an alien inmate ratted them out. Did you know that humans are considered a delicacy out there? I didn't until the rat told me everything."
"But… Alright, I didn't know that. But you could've incapacitated them or… I don't know! Anything but that!"
"...It was in the moment. I killed them because they're monsters, not aliens."
Kevin, Gwen, and Max looked at Garou, scared.
Even Phil, tied up, was starting to worry about the boy's mental state.
"Being a monster is a choice. Criminals and assassins, the ones we deal with? No different than humans resorting to crime or mad with power, so I do not kill. But choosing to play with and eat the lives of innocents? That turned on a switch I left off for a long while… I get it. I know why you're all reacting like this. But this isn't something I will let you all change. Don't judge me. I didn't judge you for sparing Vilgax, did I?"
Garou glared at Max.
Gwen and Kevin turned to Max as Garou called him out for the consequences of his choices.
"I would rather end lives to save people than to spare them just to let them come back to bite me. But despite all that, I know what lines I should or should not cross. Do you know your lines, old man?"
"...Hah."
Max sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"...It ain't like that, son. There are consequences when it comes to the extreme. Political consequences on a galactic scale. He isn't a warlord without resources and connections… There is a reason why he has a warship and an army. If he's gone, who knows who would take his place? There are times when I also wished that I could've ended it more than you know. But the point is that the world isn't ready for that mindset. Your actions have a reach further than you think. If you keep this up, you'll set a bad example for others to follow. Others won't share or know the lines you won't cross."
Garou stared at Max in the eyes.
In their standoff, Garou sighed.
"...I see."
Gwen and Kevin sighed with relief that Max managed to talk Garou out of returning to his old ways.
"...I'll see what I can do. But I hope your no kill policy is one of those annoying types."
"I get what you mean, son."
Max looked at the television.
"[And now, we have a surprise guest over. Arthur Beeman, an alien fanatic with a viable scientific background on the scene volunteering to comment on the monsters being possibly ali-]"
"[Not fanatic, enthusiast, mind you.]"
Despite being a 'scientst,' the man was well-built. Black hair shaved on the sides and front-combed, a cut jaw, but with glasses. On him was a light blue jacket and a darker blue undershirt, pants were of the same color, and a belt.
"[I'll have you know that I am sure that the creatures we've seen so far are-]"
Garou turned off the television.
"...So what now?" Garou asked.
"Look… I understand that where you're from, that is the norm. But here? You're actions will have dire consequences. I need you to promise to avoid such actions unless the situation absolutely calls for it. Do you understand?" Max was firm on his beliefs.
"I won't apologize, but I understand." Garou relented.
Max reminded Garou of Bang. Only without the beatings.
"So… where to next?" Kevin spoke up, wanting to change the subject to something less intense.
"...We've stayed around long enough. Next stop is Wyoming."
They were heading to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, part of their destination plans.
The river ran across the bank, untouched by human hands. An elk drank the waters, sipping the clean spring as fish jumped from below occasionally. Pine trees sandwiched the river, taking the sun from the blue skies above.
The Yellowstone brought peace and tranquility to Garou, someone who lived in the mountains most of his life.
Beside the clean, flowing river where the fish swam, crystal clear and reflecting the blue sky, clouds, and yellow sun in this natural scenery, Garou stood smirking at Gwen and Kevin.
He was tossing the looted alien katana up and down, the orange sheath twirling with each toss.
"Ready, you brats?" The man wearing the face of Ben Tennyson rolled his neck and shoulders.
He tapped his chest as a dark red dial emerged.
Gwen and Kevin assumed their fighting stances, both glancing at each other.
It was time for combat training. This time, Gwen and Kevin would team up against the experienced warrior who had protected them so far.
"Born ready. You better prepare your butt for the whooping of your life!" Kevin cockily declared.
"Heh. Want me to go easy? I'll only use my sword~" Garou smirked.
"Oh ho ho, you're not baiting us into that. We saw what it can do to Vilgax." Gwen remarked as she pressed the Omnitrix.
"XLR8!"
The hyperspeed blue lizard woman with roller balls for feet appeared.
Kevin roared with fighting spirit as he unleashed his full power.
His mutant form returned, the amalgamation of all ten aliens.
He had the bulk of Four Arms, the lowers arms of Wildmutt, Heatblast and Zirconia for his upper arms, jaw and angler of Ripjaws, bug wings of Stinkfly, digitigrade legs and tail of XLR8, right eye of Grey Matter, and a patch of Upgrade's black and green on his back.
Other than that, his dominant skin color was red-ish.
Garou pressed the button embedded in his chest.
Tendrils of alien metal emerged from the dial as it wrapped around him.
His size matched that of his original form's, adult, lithe. His fingers were metallic grey, almost sharp, a demonic face with four horns was engraved on his face helm, a sight to inspire fear in his enemies, crimson eyes gazing at Kevin 11 and XLR8.
The sword he wielded also grew to match his size.
Grey Matter explained the features of his sword.
She used the tools of the Rust Bucket to help confirm her conjecture.
Its abilities were as follows: altering dimensions to fit the hands of the wielder, unknown neutronium alloy blade and sheath, magnetically locked to preserve the shape against blunt trauma and excessive force, acid proof, fire proof, energy-conductive, able to store energy, the sheath able to charge the sword to fire a sharp, energy wave at the wielder's enemies in a single slash, a sharp edge so keen it could cut atoms, and more.
The sword was custom made by a very powerful alien blacksmith, a master of weapons. It was the pinnacle of both art and effectiveness, each neutron bond strengthened and welded meticulously to perfection.
"Come at me. Maybe you'll give me a good massage this time," Garou taunted with a wagging finger.
Then his shoulder cannons emerged, laser pointers aimed at both Kevin and XLR8.
"I'll keep him busy! Cover me!" Kevin shouted.
"Got it!"
Both Kevin and XLR8 ran with Kineceleran superspeed, the first slower than the latter.
However, Garou broke the rules of fair combat as he flew.
He hovered in the air as XLR8 skid to a stop while Kevin stared at him.
"What? I'm trying to get used to flying. Grow some wings if you want to catch me."
The way Garou spoke while looking down on them struck a nerve in Gwen.
Then Garou fired red lasers from his open palms.
Max watched the from the sidelines beside the Rust Bucket, grilling fish on a barbecue grill while smiling at the sight of the children 'playing.'
"Dude, that's cheap!" While blocking the lasers with his Heatblast and Zirconia arm, Kevin flew, his Stinkfly wings carrying his bulky weight.
"What are you going to do about it?!"
Garou quipped as he ascended higher while pelting Kevin with his lasers.
Kevin grunted, the lasers stung like a hornet's stinger. It got worse when his shoulder cannons fired, twin long beams knocking Kevin back to the dirt.
"No fair!" Kevin complained as he got up, rubbing his head with his Zirconia arm.
"Stinkfly!"
XLR8 changed forms to Stinkfly. XLR8 could not fly and did not have the leg strength to reach that height.
Four prehensile eye stalks lased onto Garou as her green-yellow wings fluttered as she immediately fired a barrage of her volatile goop at Garou.
However, Garou did not retreat. Garou spiraled around her goop barrage and slammed his metal fist into her face, slamming her back to the ground.
"Ow! Did you seriously just punch a girl in the face?!" Stinkfly yelled when Garou lifted his fist, holding her face in pain before she scuttled to her four crab-like feet.
"You don't look like one, you know?!" Garou quipped as Kevin landed beside Stinkfly.
Garou stuck his alien sword to his waist, magnetically locked to his armor. This time, Garou walked towards them.
Honestly, Stinkfly and Kevin felt intimidated by the way Garou walked in that armored form, the way he was rolling his shoulders and neck a sign of him being ready to pummel.
"No lasers this time. Fists only. Need to test my armor in close combat."
Kevin and Stinkfly exchanged glances.
Right now, Garou was being extremely whimsical. He said this was training, but this was training for him this time, treating them as his personal practice dummies to test his battlesuit.
"Fine." Stinkfly slammed the dial on her chest and transformed into another alien in a flash of emerald light.
"Four Arms!" The red-skinned, muscular four-armed Tetramand roared. The lithe amazonian assumed her stance as she stood beside Kevin, Kevin larger than her.
Kevin and Four Arms inched towards Garou with slow, careful steps.
"Come on. Hit me if you can."
Garou taunted, pointing at his demonic face helm.
Four Arms narrowed her four eyes.
Garou was being so annoying, almost at the level of Ben. Her mind screamed against acting recklessly, but she so wanted to punch him in the face; she could almost see Ben's smug smile behind that battlesuit.
"You asked for it!"
Four Arms tensed her two left arms for a double-right hook. She wanted to punch him so hard, he would fly to the moon.
Although, to her surprise, Garou did not defend himself, he just took the hit.
Her knuckles hit the hard, metal carapace as an explosion of force blasted through the armor.
And Garou did not budge an inch, looking unfazed.
"...Oh."
Gwen probably made the armor too well.
"...Uh… so…" Four Arms smiled awkwardly as Garou pressed his fist against her stomach.
Four Arms fell to her knees when she felt the impact a second later, her two lower arms holding her stomach as her upper arms held her mouth, almost retching from the one-inch punch.
"Your turn, Kevin."
He turned to Kevin.
"Oh… Oh… Uh, Garou, my man, my man, look can't we, uhhhh." Kevin stepped back.
Kevin was hoping that the cybernetic armor would limit him, not make him an unstoppable badass.
"Gwen! A little help?!" Kevin shouted, not wanting to deal with a Garou in alien super armor.
Kevin glanced at Gwen, seeing her slamming the green hourglass dial on her chest.
"Upgrade!"
Garou flinched at the name. He instantly turned to face the only alien the current him was weak to, but he was too late.
She latched onto him like sentient slime as her green and black form fused into his armor.
"You little snot!" Garou's modified voice almost cursed at her.
"Who do you think made this armor, huh!?" Gwen's digital voice giggled as she corrupted the armor into a black and green color.
"Get off me!" Garou tried to tear Upgrade off him like unwanted skin, but the armor already betrayed him, the cybernetic joints were locking him in place.
"Now, Kevin! Send him flying!"
Kevin smirked wide at the free shot.
"Score one for Team Alien Force!"
Kevin clenched his Zirconia arm and ran with XLR8's speed.
Upgrade for the resistance. Garou was strong. Even when turning his cybernetics against him, she was struggling to hold him in place.
Kevin's crystal arm transformed into a hammer and hit home straight into Garou's noggin and sent him flying like a golf ball.
"Foooore!" Kevin laughed.
"Ahahaha." Max laughed warmly as he flipped the fish over the grill.
He hadn't seen Garou got caught off guard like that since they met him.
His efforts in training them really showed.
Garou landed in the river, still locked in his armor.
"Get off!"
"Make me, bleeeeh!" Upgrade giggled as she held on like superglue.
[I shall accept your challenge in his stead.]
Upgrade almost blinked her circular eye. Who was that?
Suddenly, she felt extra resistance as her influence over the armor was peeling off. She had never felt this level of resistance other than the time she tried to take over mecha Rojo, when Vilgax loomed over her in cyberworld.
[Apologies, I thought you were already aware of my existence. After all, I am the AI you inserted into the wearer's combat suit. You didn't expect to see your creation rising against you, correct? After all, this is my second time surpassing the expectations of my makers.]
To her dismay, the armor discharged electrical currents, Upgrade's ultimate weakness as it disrupted the thing keeping her together, her hold over Garou's battlesuit lost.
It was enough for Garou to grab her and rip her off him, throwing her towards the land as she tumbled in her landing.
Upgrade reformed, rubbing her head.
Upgrade groaned. What happened? Was that the AI she implemented in the battlesuit? AI could resist Upgrade? She didn't think that was possible, even when she was Grey Matter.
"Fuuuuuuu. Alright, you got me. I'll give you points for that."
The armored warrior rolled his neck.
"I think I made the battlesuit too well," Upgrade spoke regretfully.
"The AI, right? Didn't think it could do that," Garou pointed.
"...Where did you get that thing, again?" Upgrade asked.
"No idea where it came from, but it's definitely not normall. Better than what Vilgax shoved into the robots, though."
Honestly, this strange tech Vilgax had was so underutilized. It was stronger when fused with a human being than separated. It could merge whatever high tech it could grab into itself into the suit, repair with the scrap in the area, and rebuild itself via nanites.
"It is updating everything to my brain through the cybernetics. I can see your weakpoints, Kevin. It's telling me the crystal lattice of your Zirconia arm is much weaker than the average 'Petrosapien.' It already provided me with a DNA analysis. The result is that the botched mutant mix that is you is hindering the full potential of each individual alien."
Garou pointed at Kevin.
"Oh…" Kevin nodded in understanding.
"Makes sense, though. You're slower than Gwen's XLR8 and Stinkfly. It might be better if we can somehow finetune the combinations of your aliens to make it clean, if you know what I mean."
"Like what?" Kevin asked.
"Like… Four Arms, Zirconia, and Ripjaws alone might be a good combination… maybe keep the Grey Matter brain. And the Heatblast Arms. Probably need to ditch the Wildmutt Arms, they don't seem useful…"
Garou rubbed his chin as he tilted his head left and right, observing Kevin in his mutant form from each angle.
"Zirconia with Four Arms is cool," Upgrade pointed out, imagining a Zirconia with Four Arms, two times the lethalness.
"The Stinkfly wings and Upgrade patch you might need to cut off. Not sure about the XLR8 legs, though; they make you faster, but not as fast…"
"Yeah, I get it. But…"
Kevin took a deep breath and clenched all four hands into knuckles as he grunted, almost as if clenching his stomach tight.
The mutations of his eleven form started to mutate, Heatblast's DNA motif corroding the rest at first before receding, then his Zirconia crystal matter tried to take over before shrinking back.
"Ugh…" Kevin exhaled.
"I don't think I can do it, man. Right now, I'm kinda stuck… can't change into anything else."
"Hmmm. Then you would have to make do. We can still make it work," Garou might have to come up with something for Kevin at least.
At least until he could find an expert.
His form was great for making combo plays, however, if he thought about it.
[Warning. Colossal organism detected, approaching at accelerating speeds.]
Garou perked at the AI giving him the heads up, prompting him to look to the skies.
Like the AI said, there really was something big blazing a fiery, smokey trail across the sky.
And it was fast approaching.
Towards their location.
"Everyone, get down!" Garou shouted as he ran.
Kevin and Upgrade would survive.
He was worried about Max, so he blitzed towards the old man and tackled him to the ground.
[Deploying energy dome.]
Immediately, from a device projecting from his spine, a crimson force field covered them inside a protective dome, surprising Garou.
He might get too used to this cyborg battlesuit, this AI was too dependable.
Kevin and Upgrade saw the meteor later than Garou. They cried out as they ducked on reflex.
It crashed in the center of Yellowstones's wilderness, the entire park slightly rumbled a small earthquake.
Garou deactivated the energy dome as he helped Max to his feet.
Kevin took flight until he was high enough to see the smoking crater.
"Dude, that's a meteor! Man, the Tennyson curse is crazy!"
"Don't say that, you'll jinx us!" Upgrade slammed the dial, returning to Gwen Tennyson in a red flash as she ran towards Max.
Kevin landed behind them.
"...Be on guard."
Garou warned.
"That isn't a meteor."
Gwen and Max turned to Garou. They understood as Gwen hovered her hand over the Omnitrix.
"How'd you tell?" Kevin asked.
"The armor showed me life signs from the meteor. It's alive."
Everyone understood as they approached the crash site.
"Thinking about it, the last time there's a meteor, you got the Omnitrix," Garou recalled.
"Oh yeah…" Gwen just remembered, it felt like lifetime ago since she got that watch.
"Wait, you think we can get a second Omnitrix?" Kevin smiled.
"No gift is without a catch when it comes to the Tennysons. There's probably a world-ending curse or something that comes with it."
"Don't be too harsh on my family. We may have a history with trouble, but it doesn't mean we're a magnet for bad karma," Max defended.
"One way to find out," Garou muttered as they arrived at the crash site.
At the end of the shallow trench, between rows of snapped trees, a giant cocoon laid. Its color was exteriorized garnet, its shape ovular, ending at two sharp points. Garou and the rest looked at the smoking rock with interest.
"...What do you think it is?" Kevin asked.
"Scanning…"
Data flashed and blipped on Garou's pupils.
"It said that it's alive and some kind of insect. The shell is quite dense, the scans can't seem to penetrate the armor."
The… meteor cracked apart.
The red rock began to steadily crack apart on its own. Giant blue pincers shot out of the meteorite's sides, resulting in an intense rumbling that shook all of Yellowstone. Large pieces of the meteor collapsed to the ground one-by-one, unveiling a monster with a pink, purple, and dark blue shell. Five magenta tentacles protruded from the front, each one flailing around aimlessly with life.
Brreeeure!
The shelled creature screeched as it burrowed its dark blue proboscis/claws into the ground. Toxic fumes sprouted from light blue sacks on the side of its shell, emitting an intense odor as the monster began consuming something from the ground.
Max, Gwen, Kevin, and Garou watched as the giant tick sucked something from the Earth, something that looked probably important. A foul odor befouled the air, causing them to pinch their noses in return for the stench.
"...Max, you know aliens better than us. What is this thing? Should we kill it?" Garou asked, looking to Max to see if this one counts as one of the species that should not be killed in his list.
"The galaxy is a big place, Garou. I've never seen anything like this," Max admitted, not entirely familiar with this species of alien or whatever it was.
As they pondered whether to spare or kill the alien, a ship descended into the scene. One half of the ship was longer than the other, the former having a darker shade of gray than the other. From behind, it curved around a semicircle which ended into a spear tip point, surrounding the circular center of the ship.
Underneath the ship, a circular platform slowly descended with glowing blue light. Residing on this platform was a peculiar trio of extraterrestrial beings, each one different from one another in size and species.
One was a tall alien clothed in white robes, arms crossed behind his back. He had blue-black eyes and gray skin, small purple orbs imbedded in the center of his head. He also possessed six tentacles instead of legs.
To his right was a muscular, heavy-set alien with four red eyes resembling that of Stinkfly's. He had dark gray skin and held a purple battleaxe behind his left shoulder.
The last individual was a short yellow alien with six arms and orange-black eyes similar to his superior's. All three wore similar necklaces and yellow pendants that were wrapped around their shoulders.
"Rejoice. He's arrived in all of his glorious glory." The center alien announced monotonously in admiration. With that, the three of them flew towards the armored tick on gray hovercrafts, utilizing blue spheres of energy as power sources.
"I await his proclamation." The yellow alien exclaimed as he pressed the side of his face against the parasitic alien's pink shell.
"...Seriously? An alien cult? And I thought Warlord squidbeard was pushing it," Kevin asked in response to this bizarre spectacle
"Who are you?" Max asked, moving the topic along.
"Relax. We come in peace." The head alien answered, giving the four an awkward bow that none of them were buying in the slightest.
"We don't buy it. Take that thing away if you mean it," Garou immediately spat on their words as he pointed a finger at the blight of nature sucking their world.
"You dare disrespect the Great One?! Sacrilege!"
"What's so great about a giant ammonite-tick thing?" Gwen asked, pointing at the space parasite.
"The Great One, my dear human child, purifies all planets he comes too. How can you not worship a being so tremendous?" The Leader Alien explained passionately, holding out a hand to bask in its glory.
"Tremendous!" The other two robotically agreed, their eyes completely void of life.
"I've seen bigger." Garou remarked, comparing the size of the tick to the giant that smashed City B and City D and the monster centipedes.
"Silence! He's... speaking to me." The yellow alien snapped irritably as he pressed himself closer to the Great One's shell. Repetitive breathing permeated from the alien tick, but nothing close to an ordinary language.
"The Great One says your planet will be purified before the next moon. Very lucky indeed." He translated the Great One's thoughts with a delighted smile.
"What do you mean by… purify?" Kevin asked, nervously glancing at the giant tick thing.
The Great One's limbs dug deeper into the Earth's surface, causing a blanket of shadow to spread throughout the entire park.
"Allow me to show you." The trio's leader replied cryptically.
Pressing his finger on the side of his head, the leader projected a pink screen depicting an abstract representation of a planet and the 'Great One.'
"We have followed the Great One from planet to planet. Galaxy to Galaxy, after he paid a visit to each and every one of our planets."
The white silhouette of the tick walked up, and burrowed it's… limbs into the crust. They watched as the thing spread it like an invading root, reaching into the mantle and then the core.
"Notice his, technique. The deep burrowing of the appendages, into the core of the planet, rotting it from the inside, and then," the leader's voice grew ominous with menacing euphoria, "ingesting it."
The planet later cracked and exploded. The four widened their eyes, Garou hanging his jaw at the explanation of how the tick would literally drink their planet dry.
"You're planning to let that thing suck our world dry just like that?!" Gwen cried out in shock.
"We don't plan, that would be… beyond us." The leader shuddered. "We only wish to see his power reaching his peak once… he consumes the last drop of your world as it joins the others."
That was all the information Garou needed to cross that line.
"Old man." Garou entered his combat stance, ready to test the suit's limits.
"I know, Garou. There are exceptions to every case, and that thing is an exception." Max gave Garou his consent. If what the leader of the three said was true, then that creature was too dangerous to be allowed to live.
"You should be happy. The Great One will bring your world to a wondrous end." The Leader Alien mused contentedly, viewing the Earth's destruction as a privilege of the highest honor.
"Not if we have anything to say about it. Gwen!" Kevin took flight as his Zirconia arm formed a mallet.
"You read my mind! Let's do it!" Gwen shouted and hit the Omnitrix.
However, the alien she changed into was not what she expected. Her whole body was converted into dark green plantlife, each hand paired with thin, thorn-like claws. Her legs were replaced by four vines, somehow managing to support Gwen's additional body weight. She also sported one light blue eye and hair that coiled around both sides of the face. Lastly, the mouth of a Venus Flytrap sprouted outward as makeshift shoulder-pads that surrounded Gwen's head.
"Are you kidding me? The Omnitrix decided to give me a new alien at the worst time?" Gwen yelled at the hourglass symbol residing near her stomach. Her voice was raspier, yet feminine in nature, almost like a crackling tree or leaf.
"Foolish Earthlings! Accept your fate like the rest of the Great One's victims." The axe-wielding alien growled, charging his hovercraft towards Gwen in preparation to swing. Gwen used her elastic body to dodge the four-eyed alien's attack, embedding her feet into the ground, so she wouldn't stretch too far.
"You can tell your 'Great One' he can go back home hungry!" Kevin flew towards the leader as he hovered away. His forehead was charged with a glow, his forehead then fired a beam of magenta at Kevin from his hovercraft above.
"Garou! You go take care of the giant bug! We'll handle the others!" Max ordered ran into the distance, to the Rust Bucket or find anything to assist the children.
"Do you have something that can kill that thing?!" Plant Gwen shouted.
"Working on it!"
Gwen returned her focus to the axe-wielding alien. Gwen experimented a bit with her transformation on the fly while avoiding his energy ax.
"Ok, so I already have elasticity and control over plants. What else could there be…" Gwen pondered to herself as she looked over all parts of her body. Then, Gwen spotted rows of black seeds protruding from her back. Curious, Gwen plucked one out and placed it in her hands.
"Huh, wonder what this can do." Gwen mumbled with interest. She then glanced at the hovercraft above her and thought up an idea. Closing her one eye out of nervousness, Gwen threw it at the alien.
Contrary to Gwen's expectations, it exploded like a bomb, knocking the alien off his pedestal and to the dirt.
Gwen blinked a few times in amazement, her dark green lips smiling toothily.
"That could definitely come in handy." Gwen made a mental note to herself, inspecting the extensive collection of seeds once again.
Garou ran towards the Great One, sliding to a stop beside the shell.
He tapped his knuckle at it for a moment, determining the hardness of the shell.
There were no weak points outside the shell from the scans. The surefire way would be to kill it from the inside out.
"But that would be boring."
Garou wanted to use the one technique guaranteed to obliterate giant insect monsters of incredible defense, but pulling it off with his current body would damage it.
He used [Explosive Heart Release Fist], the internal circuitry and cybernetic veins pumping from the burst of pressure as he slammed his fist into the shell.
The hand of his battle armor broke first, fingers mangled and elbow bent slightly in the wrong angle.
As he confirmed, he could not transfer the power of his ki through the suit, less than half as effective.
"Damn it."
He undid his armor as he tossed the sword, the sword shrunk to fit in his child-sized hand as he caught it. The armor would repair itself.
Now for the other option - the ultimate karate chop he used on Sage Centipede. Shame he didn't give that move a name.
'World Splitter' was a good candidate.
He never did it with a sword, however. He grinned wide, wanting to find out if he could incorporate the technique into his alien katana.
He looked up, seeing the alien ship perfectly above the giant tick.
He ran up the exoskeleton and made a mighty leap once his foothold ran out, launching towards the ship as he somersaulted until his feet touched the underside of the ship.
He inhaled and jumped, the force he exerted flipping the ship like a pancake as he fell with inhuman momentum, sword raised overhead as the katana glew, the blue circuits humming to life in response to its wielder's murderous intent, answering to it.
For the first time since its birth, the 'Great One' bled.
From the tip of its thorax to its base, the blade carved through its indestructible shell and through its soft flesh.
Cyan blood spilled, an eldritch scream drowning the battlefield.
Kevin and the alien cult leader stopped as Plant Gwen and the muscled alien ceased, the latter's ax paused midswing.
He continued, cutting left, up, and right, carving through armor like cake, then slammed his fingers into the thin wedge and peeled the square chunk of the shell from the meat like an orange.
Sheathing the blade after flicking off the blood, he went in, punching through the soft meat much to the shock of every witness present.
"Did he just…?!" Plant Gwen couldn't believe it. Garou just went in the thing like a bullet.
"That is awesome!" Kevin, however, found it cool.
The Great One writhed about in pure agony, its high-pitched screeches echoing across Yellowstone's expansive sea of trees.
"The Great One… is crying." The yellow alien translated his patron 'deity's' cries of immense pain.
Cyan blood spilled, the skin and organs ruptured, the bones underneath fragmented as the Great One screamed in its final throes. The thorax of the Great one expanded and contracted as warts and blisters bubbled under their skin ready to pop.
Kevin's opponent was no longer engaged in battle. He and the interpreter were gazing at the Great One's demise, watching it cry out in pain before it finally… it exploded. Like a sick water balloon, it popped in a gory explosion, exploding a wave of cyan goop that drowned the surrounding in fluids.
Everyone was washed away in the aftermath, ending the battle that was briefly occurred.
Max, Gwen, and Kevin slowly picked themselves up. All of them were covered in the slime of a planet-eating tick, and it smelled, enough for them to wipe the gunk off their faces.
"...Where's Garou?" Plant Gwen asked.
Her question was answered when Garou burst out of the great one's head, landing on a knee, covered in the slime of a world-drinking tick as he wiped and flicked the blood off his face.
"Dude… That… was so, so cool."
Mutant Kevin gave Garou a Heatblast thumbs-up.
Garou smirked and returned with his own thumbs-up.
"You… you destroyed him." The Leader Alien stuttered in horror, wiping the Great One's gelatinous blue fluids off of his face. Along with his two compatriots, he moved his hovercraft over to further examine the diminutive murderer of their deity.
"You've ended the Great One not long after it touched this world." The four-eyed alien added gruffly, struggling to maintain his balance after Gwen's surprise explosive.
The three aliens stared at Garou for a few moments, awkward silence starting to permeate throughout the fluid stained environment. Then, they did something even weirder than before.
"All hail the new Great One!" All three aliens praised in glee, bowing to Garou as if he was the second coming of Jesus.
"Hail! Hail!" The small yellow alien jumped up and down whilst flailing his six arms.
The four stared at the worshipping trio with dumbfoundment. Garou looked at Gwen, then Kevin, then Max, and pointed his finger at them.
"What am I looking at?" He whispered.
"...I think you just became their new God..." Plant Gwen deadpanned in disbelief.
Not only did he get a servant from the stars, but he also got three alien followers after killing their 'god?'
It was ludicrous.
It took around ten seconds for Garou to digest what he heard. He slew the tick monster that would eat their planet and a trio of followers.
He had no proper reaction as of yet.
"What do you request of us, O' Great One?" The yellow alien eagerly questioned.
He did not like the honeyed words… then his eyes trailed to the shell of the thing.
Garou walked towards a piece of the 'Great One's shell on the tick-blood drenched dirt.
He raised his hand and karate-chopped it to the dirt, cratering the dirt without warning, shocking Kevin and the others.
"...Huh." Garou saw not even a crack. This would make great armor for his suit.
His body couldn't reach his prime, and using the Roaring Aura Sky Ripping Fist was beyond him at the moment lest he damage this body.
And he looked at the aliens and saw their tech.
The ship was still in the air, slightly off balance from being used as a jump pad.
He could use them…
"I want to see your tech. I want to see if you can integrate your 'God's' remains into moldable armor. Also, how much is its carcass worth?"
An idea popped in his head, a very devious one, as his lips curled into a smile.
As for the name of the sword... it might sound corny but he shall name his sword Deicide.